How many times have you heard players in RIFTS game say "im not gonna play a human!, they die to easy. I can play a Promethean or Kreeghor, they are MDC creatures with supernatural strength!" The current group I play with have this sentiment. Now that I have another GM to GM a game while I regroup and come up with some new stuff and flesh out current things for my game, Iam going to show them that just because humans seems weak, they are quite the opposite if you know how to play one and how weak these so called MDC creatures really are. Several things that always get overlooked are headshots. No matter how strong something is....you do enough damage to its head, its going to die, mostly since hitting the head they take double damage aslong as they are not wearing a helmet, even if they are the helmet still does not have enough MDC like the main body does. Think outside the box, be creative, use the terrain and what is around you to your advantage. Make a sniper package like I did, not an OCC but just a package that the player has to spend 3 OCC related skills to purchase and the package ends at 5th lvl. Prometheans, Kreeghor, all other MDC creatures to me are weak and not challenging or fun to play.

You're setting the bar pretty low if you consider shooting the head or using terrain to your advantage to be "thinking outside the box".

Playing a human has a huge opportunity cost since you're giving up every advantage that you might have gotten by choosing some other race (MDC, supernatural strength, bio-regeneration, natural abilities, etc). Whether or not that matters depends entirely on the GM, players, and campaign.

--flatline

_________________I don't care about canon answers. I'm interested in good, well-reasoned answers and, perhaps, a short discussion of how that answer is supported or contradicted by canon.

If I don't provide a book and page number, then don't assume that I'm describing canon. I'll tell you if I'm describing canon.

I love playing humans, they're my preferred race. However, if I play a D-Bee I make sure to play up the differences in thinking and culture. I think its just the same thing everyone has always had with RPGs man. "Why would I be a human if I could be an Elf and have cool power X, Y, and Z."

Thinking outside the box to me is not aiming for the head or using terrain. Thinking outside the box is doing something completely unorthodox that the GM doesnt know what to do when you do it. A mild example is jumping out a falling shuttle onto a power armor and then destroying the head with a fusion block then riding it down as you put on the parachute.

Here's a tough question: Who is weaker than humans? I can think of two arguable examples:

Gnomes. They get some nice skill bonuses and stat bonuses in specific areas, but overall, they are weaker. They're also tiny people who are meant to not be strong warrior-types. In an MDC environment, where a simple vibro-knife is insta-death to an unarmored SDC human anyway, it's not much of a weakness.

... basically, that's it. Every other species is either equivalent to humans, weaker in one or two token areas, but otherwise equivalent or better, or across-the-board superior. Even the above two examples have their redeeming qualities.

I suppose that humans are presented this way because we want our game to be larger-than-life, not smaller-than-life. If Palladium released a game in which humans were giants, and every other sentient species else was primitive, dumb, weak, and tiny, how interesting would that be?

Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 10:34 pmPosts: 1483Location: Sacramento, CA
Comment: We are the hope for the future and we will not fail in that duty.

Because humans don't have any stat bonuses or powers right out of the box aside from a chance at exceptional attributes and possible psionic powers (and a low one at that). What people often don't see is that humans aren't restricted by their race, can be just about anything, can come from almost anywhere (including Hades) and there is much greater variation between members of the same species (3-30 per attribute, per person out of the box).

Non-human species have much more power and perks often enough, but they are also often limited in what class they can take (if any) and don't receive the benefit of bonus dice for exceptional stats due to attribute bonuses already built in (and often to emphasis one or two race-specific traits). The end result of this is that members of the same non-human race will tend to have less variation in their attributes and defining characteristics.

_________________"He who commands the kitchen commands the ship." -C. Magewind, Ley Line Rifter and self proclaimed "Best Cook in the Three Galaxies"

"The question is not why the mechanoids kill the humanoids, but only why nobody did it sooner." -Killer Cyborg

Right now I only play with human characters. Yeah they are weak, so you have to work hard to succeed. That means many more XPs. RCCs that can get by without breaking a sweat don't get a lot from me. Why should they? When you have super abilities most things come easy. So what do you learn?

Humans suck... Why would you even want to play something so weak in such a super-powered world. Even with body armor 3-4 shots from a 1d6x10 weapon and you are vaporized! I'm not saying I haven't played them, but I was always so worried in the back of mind, that I never really gave much of a thought of longevity, because I knew I was always a trigger pull or spell away from death, even at level 15. S.D.C. beings barely exist in my campaigns and when they do, they die fast and hard and are usually fodder. The only way I could see this working is if you're entire campaign was S.D.C. based, or localized to someplace small, like Chi-Town. Even in a standard non-uber game, once you get global, megaversal or inter-dimensional, you're dead.

Humans are not weak, however, over time, they have failed at communication with angels and mother nature. There has been a jeliousy matter from the begining of time, between angels and man. Human men are not sure how to deal with them, thinking they are dealing with God and Mother nature, when they are not. There is no conflict...

It's all situational. You can play a human wilderness scout with Huntsman armor and a Wilks 357 laser rifle and walk around feeling like a god of the wilderness in some areas and adventures. In others, you'd feel like an insect trying to avoid getting splattered by windshields on the interstate. Either state of mind can be fun, especially if they overlap in the same game.

Humans suck... Why would you even want to play something so weak in such a super-powered world. Even with body armor 3-4 shots from a 1d6x10 weapon and you are vaporized! I'm not saying I haven't played them, but I was always so worried in the back of mind, that I never really gave much of a thought of longevity, because I knew I was always a trigger pull or spell away from death, even at level 15. S.D.C. beings barely exist in my campaigns and when they do, they die fast and hard and are usually fodder. The only way I could see this working is if you're entire campaign was S.D.C. based, or localized to someplace small, like Chi-Town. Even in a standard non-uber game, once you get global, megaversal or inter-dimensional, you're dead.

If that were the case, there wouldn't be humans in places like the three galaxies.

Besides, everyone is a trigger pull away from death when you have the right weapon.

_________________

Mark Hall wrote:

Y'all seem to assume that Palladium books are written with the same exacting precision with which they are analyzed. I think that is... ambitious.

All time Favorite sdc race.. Amaki Stonemen (not psychic) slap a titan juicer upgrade on and 15+ years stonefisted carnage....until you fail a trap/mine detection roll and poof. Dust clouded by a fusionblock.

Humans are weaker - at least in an MDC environment. Its MDC concept that you're basically invulnerable to normal damage (and HPs are insane). The other SDC races have some advantage over humans, but really its normally not too much.

For me I always saw humans as a race that were MUCH more flexible and adaptive. They advance and learn quicker than the other races of the megaverse - and spread like a virus.

I thought humans should get an XP bonus and have less restriction on changing O.C.C.s.

Personally I avoid playing nonhumans, but strive to make my human character progress to god-like power .

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